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Sun Feb 16

Game Ideas That Could Help Nintendo's Sales
Nintendo is having quite a bit of issue pushing hardware these days, and its not really the hardware itself that is causing the issue. Its mainly the software playing the culprit. It is true that many developers are touting claims that the hardware of the Wii U is nothing but an inferior waste of time and way to difficult to port games for. I am not a developer, but there have been plenty of individuals inside of those same companies saying that the game was running on the Wii U, but it was cancelled due to costs or other reasons. And there have been plenty of developers that have claimed the Wii U is great and can run the games just fine. I won't go into all of that in this article. I will however, go into what Nintendo needs to do for its software lineup in order to draw the sales it needs to consider the Wii U a viable system. I have touted what Nintendo should do in another article for its next console, and these games would work fine either way you slice it. Of course, part of the issue that Nintendo has with its software is that they have finally switched over to high definition gaming with the Wii U, and although they have increased the amount of game designers within the company, that is quite a switch to make while still ensuring high quality products within a timely fashion. I will avoid the games which Nintendo has claimed they are working on and focus on what my honest opinion is. Without further waiting here is the list in no particular order and a description of the game:
1. Star Fox
Yes there is a Star Fox64 3DS game, but that is nothing compared to what the home console needs. This new entry in the series would be a retelling of the story featuring the air combat style of the beloved Star Fox64, featuring four player online or offline co-operative and competitive play. Each stage would offer plenty of unlockables depending on the rank received. Including unlocking the ability to unlock "landmaster" and "on-foot" modes such as in the N64 game. However it would also include unlockable naval modes, multiple ships, and expanded levels. After receiving scores on a particular stage the player would unlock "landmaster", "on-foot", and "naval" modes of that stage. After scoring sufficiently in each of these modes the player would then unlock various jets, tanks, ships, etc for use on the stages and for online play. After successfully completing all of the stages and stage variants with high enough scores, the player would then unlock the ability to completely customize their vehicles having to maintain a particular thrust and weight to firepower and shield calculation to ensure no overpowered vehicles. This game would entice all of the older fans like myself, as well as the bring in newer ones. And would allow the game a very high replay-ability and ensure several hours in the multi-player. As an added bonus, I have already come up with the perfect DLC for it that would add several more hours of play. The DLC would involve customizable mechs with ground combat and destructible environments. The stages from the games could be reused with the DLC and some new stages and combat arenas could be created solely for the DLC. It would allow players to enjoy the stages again as well as the new stages, while decreasing the development cost and time to a degree. Allowing a lower price point but still generating profit.
2. ZombiU 2
Of course Ubisoft has already denied this saying they did not sell enough copies of the first game to justify creating a sequel. I don't understand the logic behind this because ZombiU sold approximately 630,000 copies according to VGChartz. So either one of three things is behind the statement of Ubisoft claiming to not have been close to turning a profit. They are lying about their reason for not making a sequel, they calculated the costs of what they were originally making the game into before going the route of ZombiU, or they can't manage their assets properly causing bulging costs. Either way, not going into this any more, but there have seldom been a game that has caused me to worry about what is behind a door or around the corner. Yes ZombiU had its issues, but with properly testing, design, and quality assurance the sequel could be phenomenal. The sequel will need to have more weapons, an online multiplayer, involve actually fortifying structures in a manner that actually matters, foraging for supplies, all while completing a well crafted story. The dangers need to exist still much in the fashion of the original, however many improvements will need to be made. The gamepad was used wonderfully in ZombiU and if they can bring all of that over to a sequel that is handled better than the original it will be a great triumph. The original sold quite a few copies, and the sequel would easily surpass the 1,000,000 mark, of course not initially, but within one year it would. And by attaining those sales, it would be worthwhile to push out DLC to introduce a new story line alongside that of the main player controlled character. Perhaps another prepper skulking about London aimed at spreading the plague. Secretly and hidden to the gamer in the main story, until the end. Anyone with any interest in the game would love some DLC, and while the original is a cult classic already, the sequel would fit right in.
3. Pokemon World
Anytime people mention the making of a console Pokemon game two things come to mind. Its going to be spin-off and Nintendo would never let Pokemon leave the handhelds because of the handheld sales it helps generate. How about we take a page out of the competition book, but improve it substantially. How about a Pokemon game that is a console and a handheld game? And we have it...Pokemon World. Similar to the fashion that Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate released a version for the Wii U and 3DS, allowing save files to be transferred between them, that is what Pokemon World would accomplish. But it would be taken many more steps into an amazing experience. People love collecting Pokemon toys and figures, as well collect Disney Infinity and Skylanders figures. Nintendo already tried bringing the collection of little Pokemon figures to the United States with Pokemon Rumble U, but it did not have nearly the appeal it does in Japan and is pretty much a flop in terms of figure sales. The main reason why is because of our culture, but of course the game does not offer enough to it to justify a huge cash purchase for a few hours of gaming. However if we take the Pokemon franchise and combine it with the setup of Skylanders or Disney Infinity, then we have pure Pokemon gold. Yes, the pun was intended. Pokemon World will be pretty similar to the handheld versions Pokemon in terms of world size, however, it would be more similar to Disney Infinity in terms of the buildings and environments. This would be the first completely up to date HD Pokemon game. And would span a series of games and DLC. The first game in the series would be Pokemon World, and would span the time frame of the first Pokemon games, taking place in the Kanto region. Of course the story would be a variation of the original story to allow for a new experience and gameplay mechanics while still staying true to the Pokemon canon. While you could catch and collect Pokemon in the game, they would not be usable in combat unless you owned the figure in real life. Whenever you caught a Pokemon in the game, it would be transferred to Professor Oak, who would then study it, until you purchased the figure, in which the Professor would have completed his study and returned the Pokemon to you for use. The starter pack would come with the three starting Pokemon, because the player would get to take all three starting Pokemon with them in this game, as well as their evolved forms. And it would come with a Pokeball which would essentially be its Portal of Power. You could only switch between Pokemon that was in your in game pack when you put a Pokemon on the Pokeball, in order to ensure players do not try and cheat. All of the original Pokemon would be available for the game coming out in waves. Each pack for the game would come with that particular Pokemon in its first form as well as its evolved forms to ensure the player can have a complete physical collection, and they can switch the figure out while playing the game. Since gamers will be able to transfer their save files between their handhelds and the Wii U, it will allow them to play the game on the go or at home on the big screen. The game would feature local trading and battles between users on their handhelds or Wii U console, and online trading and battles. And to bring this game from Pokemon gold, to Pokemon Diamond status, Nintendo will offer up the Pokemon World Cup. Similar to the fashion of the long beloved television series, gamers will go up against each other to determine supremacy. In a tiered system where the winner progresses, and all of the battles will be available to watch and will be showcased similar to Pokemon Stadium did years ago. Depending on the ranking a player reaches, they will be awarded either rare or one of a kind items or special Pokemon for free. For example, the top player could receive a special one of a kind gold colored Charizard in the mail or whatever Pokemon they used in their final match. Or the in game world would then have posters decorating buildings of that person or their Mii declaring them the winner. And the Pokemon World Cup could be a yearly tournament, with several smaller tournaments happening year round. All of these would ensure Pokemon World a bright future and would definitely increase software and hardware sales while generating millions of dollars in revenue in toy sales. Then following these games, Pokemon World 2 would be released being set in Johto, then the next game and so on. Securing several years of profitability and very enjoyable gaming for us consumers.
4. Super Mario 64 HD Ultimate Edition
Yes, people have been praising Nintendo for how awesome Super Mario 3D World has been. But it just is not the same as the much beloved Super Mario 64, that much to my chagrin, I never got to fully enjoy. I never got the pleasure of owning a copy of it and although I did get to enjoy the majority of the game, I never got to play through it in its entirety. Many of us Nintendo fans have been clamoring for a remake or sequel of that game and with good reason. The games offers a fairly open level design that provides just the right amount of challenge. If Nintendo will release it redesigned in HD, and offering extra content, it will be sure to draw a crowd. By allowing users to play as other franchise characters, upon completion of the game, such as Luigi or Peach, it would offer up some replay value. And they can offer DLC by using some clever coding and switch around the enemies a little bit by having the player control Bowser going up against Mario and his ilk, and upon completion of the game it is realized that Bowser was having a nightmare, and plans an attack upon the Mushroom Kingdom which will set the sequel in motion.
5. Goldeneye 007 HD Special Edition
A re-release of the childhood game that truly changed the way fps games were made has already come out, however it was a horrible game and trashed by pretty much everyone. No, that just won't do. I am not looking at the original with rose colored glasses, but that does not change the fact that the remake was horrible and the original is still a treasured game by many. While this game won't necessarily sell systems on its on, it will definitely help anyone that is on the fence. A HD remake of the original including extra characters, and additional levels would be awesome. We don't want another remake such as the ones we received in 2010 and 2011, and if it can't be done right, don't do it at all. Online multiplayer as well as local play will be required of course, so that we can throw sticky bombs on the wall and keep you out of the bunker. Ah, wonderful childhood.
There are five perfectly good games that I have come up with that should generate at least tens of millions of dollars in profit. Of course other games would help would be updated versions, sequels, prequels, or re-telling of some of the less popular games that have very loyal fan-bases such as Advance Wars, Fire Emblem, and F-Zero. While there are many gamers that would rather be console elitists and focus on the Xbox One or PS4, and scream out against Nintendo continuing in the hardware market in favor of selling out their IPs to their competition, most of us would fight against that. Hopefully you are like me in that regard. It is better to have more competition and innovation than the same software and hardware barely changed, then re-branded and resold to us for the same or higher price. That would be the future if Nintendo were to collapse. I don't see them going down anytime soon, and I just hope that they take a bit of advise and create the games that people want, with the features that people want.

Wii U vs Xbox One Sales Numbers: Is The Wii U Really A Failure?
There is a whole lot of talk of how horrible the sales numbers have been for the Wii U, and a lot of talk about the Nintendo being doomed. I won't be going into how doomed or not doomed Nintendo is. But I will quickly touch on the hardware sales for consoles between Nintendo and Microsoft for there newest systems to offer a comparison of figures. The Wii U was released in November of 2012, with the actual release dates across the globe spanning the 18th of November to the 8th of December. While the Xbox One had a release in November of 2013, pretty much across the globe on the 22nd of November, while planning to hit a few countries later on in 2014. Regardless of the structure that either company decided to use in the release countries and dates for their respective consoles, it all comes down to the numbers for many people. Both companies of course released their systems in the demographics that would represent the best sales, so the argument that Microsoft did not release the Xbox One in Japan yet, if it happens at all, does not matter, they know they would not have the huge initial sales they wanted in that country, so it was skipped for the time being and is not an argument for this comparison.
The funniest aspect regarding the critics behind the Wii U's supposed failure to sell, is that they assume that the competition has been selling so much better. Without going into all of the offerings by any of the video game giants, going into political or financial discussions, hardware performance, or anything else...strictly looking at the hardware sales we see they are very similar. The Wii U had a release date in November 2012 and sold 3.06 million units by the end of that year. The Xbox One had a release date in November 2013 and sold 3 million units by the end of that year. The actual specific number is unknown and is probably just over the 3 million mark, probably between the 3 million to 3.06 million of the Wii U. Okay, so the first adopters picked up their consoles and the Christmas gifts are accounted for. So technically the Wii U had been outselling the Xbox One in the similar period. How about since then?
Well, unfortunately the actual numbers for January 2014 Xbox One sales are not known since Microsoft has decided not to divulge that information. And in all honesty, they were definitely better than the Wii U the January after its launch which only sold between 45,000 - 59,000 consoles in January 2013. Looking through the data, it appears that the Xbox One more than likely sold around 300,000 consoles in January 2014, give or take 20,000 units. Which, like I said, is quite a bit more than the Wii U's comparison for the same time in its life cycle. Of course now I am looking at the hardware sales for this past week for a comparison. According to VGChartz.com, from February 1st to the 8th, the Xbox One had global sales of 53,670 which I will round up to 54,000 for this argument. While the Wii U had global sales of 36,033 which I will round down to 36,000. The fact of the matter is that the Xbox One outsold the Wii U by a large margin during this time period. It does not matter why, only that it did. So how well are the systems going to really sell in comparison to each other?
The Wii U was released November 2012 and as of 8 February 2014 it has sold 5.7 million units according to VGChartz. Without breaking up the days and nickel and diming the time period we will keep it very simple. From November 2012 to February 2014 the Wii U sold 5.7 million units. So in order to do the same, the Xbox One has to sell 5.7 million units from November 2013 to February 2015. Currently the Xbox One is sitting at 3.4 million units, so they must sell 2.3 million units within one year. Which is quite possible and likely to happen. Breaking the 2.3 million units down, Microsoft will only need to sell approximately 191,670 each month. If they continue selling at the same pace as this past week with around 50,000 sold, then they would be a bit over that number. But how would that actually look?
If the Wii U is a "failure" and supposedly not worth developing games for, then why is the Xbox One not included in that category? Of course Nintendo does not pay millions upon millions of dollars to developers to make games for its hardware, and they insist on much higher quality control and better service for its consumers too. Yes Microsoft has a more powerful console in a technical perspective and since it is structured more toward pc architecture and the PS4, that helps developers also to a degree. Without pointing fingers at one console or the other regardless of my own personal opinions on each of them, the facts speak for themselves. If the Wii U is a "failure" then so is the Xbox One. Using the excuse that the install base is not large enough for a reason to not develop games for the Wii U is not good enough and a downright lie if being used as the sole reason. How about developers give the actual reasons why...just be honest. You don't want to because of a number of other reasons: The game will not sell the same on the Wii U, the cost of development compared to just porting to another console is higher, or whatever the reason is. But those of you that have put down the Wii U for its sale numbers need to think again. If you compare the Wii U to the Xbox One sales numbers, then you will understand they are more alike than different.